Experimental and theoretical studies explore the reactivity of the symmetric and the antisymmetric stretching vibrations of monodeuterated methane (CH3D). Direct infrared absorption near 3000 cm(-1) prepares CH3D molecules in three different vibrationally excited eigenstates that contain different amounts of symmetric C-H stretch (nu(1)), antisymmetric C-H stretch (nu(4)), and bending overtone (2nu(5)) excitation. The reaction of vibrationally excited CH3D with photolytic chlorine atoms (Cl, P-2(3/2)) yields CH2D products mostly in their vibrational ground state. Comparison of the vibrational action spectra with the simulated absorption spectra and further analysis using the calculated composition of the eigenstates show that the symmetric C-H stretching vibration (nu(1)) promotes the reaction seven times more efficiently than the antisymmetric C-H stretching vibration (nu(4)). Ab initio calculations of the vibrational energies and eigenvectors along the reaction coordinate demonstrate that this difference arises from changes in the initially excited stretching vibrations as the reactive Cl atom approaches. The nu(1) vibration of CH3D becomes localized vibrational excitation of the C-H bond pointing toward the Cl atom, promoting the abstraction reaction, but the energy initially in the nu(4) vibration flows into the C-H bonds pointing away from the approaching Cl atom and remains unperturbed during the reaction. A simple model using vibrational symmetries and vibrational adiabaticity predicts a general propensity for the greater efficiency of the symmetric stretch for accelerating the reaction in the vibrationally adiabatic limit. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.